Is EOS’s new Social Media Platform VOICE.com Facebook 2.0 Mark of the Beast?
original image source
Came across some interesting news recently regarding Block.one (the creator of EOS) which will be launching a blockchain-based social media platform called VOICE:
- coindesk: Block.One Is Launching a Social Media Platform on the EOS Blockchain
- BlockchainNews: Block.one Plans to Tackle Pitfalls of Social Media With New Blockchain Community Called “Voice” (includes a video of the June 1 presentation including the key speakers CEO Brendan Blumer and Developer Dan Larimer – who also developed the Steemit blockchain)
- CryptoNinjas: Block.one unveils “Voice” blockchain-based social media platform
- cointelegraph: Eos Developer Block.one Announces Blockchain-Based Social Media Platform Voice
Official News Notice: Block.one Introduces “Voice” to Bring Alignment and Transparency to Social Media
Now, while the speakers pitch a fanciful picture of an idealized social media platform – void of bots and fake accounts/users - there are some very troubling aspects I have noticed and some dangerous red flags to be noticed, at least when one reads between the lines amidst all the hype and hoopla.
In this article, I will make a brief case as to why I think this promise of a new social media platform which will liberate, empower & enrich us (through their “Voice” token) and not censor us (as is the case w/ Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) is really a...
cleverly disguised façade and trap to get the masses sucked into a beast system of control on blockchain.
First red flag: you need to watch the first part of the video whereby EOS CEO Brendan Blumer brings us back to 2008 with the stock market crashes. He [rightfully] laments about how for the past century these financial banking institutions that we have depended on for so long are just not trustworthy at all.
Screenshot from the YouTuber BritVR starting at the 01:59 mark . Source. The official video can be found here.
He then asks if there is a better way for this whole system to function followed by emphasizing the merits of cryptos and a better set of “checks & balances” (i.e., blockchains). While he is completely right about what he is saying, there is zero transition from this initial point about corrupt bankers or how this problem will be solved, or how it relates to Voice. Rather, he just shifts off talking about blockchain. So, I need to ask myself: what was the purpose of mentioning this if it has seemingly nothing to do with this new social media platform called Voice? It just seems to me like it’s an indirect or subliminal message implying that “we need to get out of this evil system”.
But as you read on through the rest of my post below, I’m afraid that what Blumer appears to be tacitly implying as a way to get out of this evil system, may in fact be a trap into a much more sinister one from which there will be no escape.
Too expand a little, let me quote from the coindesk article from above which remarks the following about Blumer [emphasis added]:
He also promised that Voice will do a better job of keeping out bots and trolls than previous social networks, without really going into the mechanics of doing so. Previously, though, Block.one brought on stage a product lead from Yubico, the makers of YubiKey, to talk about ways in which EOS would integrate with WebAuthn, a password-less standard recently approved by the W3C, which governs the worldwide web.
Note that Block.one is the parent company of the EOS project. The key passage here is “talk about ways in which EOS would integrate with WebAuthn, a password-less standard recently approved by the W3C”. WebAuthn (see also webauthn.me and webauthn.guide) is a proposed authentication standard for the web developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
A pretty good recent (March 4, 2019) article from ZDNet entitled W3C finalizes Web Authentication (WebAuthn) standard sums up the idea/key features rather well; here are some key excerpts [emphasis added]:
- WebAuthn is what security experts are calling a passwordless authentication system and what they see as the future of user account security.
- WebAuthn allows users to register and authenticate on websites or mobile apps using an "authenticator" instead of a password.
- The standard is already supported in browsers like Google Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, and the preview version of Apple's Safari. It is also supported on Android and Windows 10.
- Development on the WebAuthn standard started back in November 2015, after the FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance donated the FIDO 2.0 specifications to the W3C.
- The WebAuthn API is an upgrade of FIDO U2F and will support a multitude of other authentication systems besides USB-stored security keys --including biometrics.
- Besides W3C and browser makers, the FIDO Alliance has also greatly contributed to the new WebAuthn standard.
- The FIDO Alliance is an industry consortium that includes some of the tech world's largest companies. The FIDO Alliance's main mission is to create interoperable authentication methods and standards fit for the future of technology and move users and devices away from using antiquated passwords-based login systems.
In short, they want to...
get rid of pesky logins and passwords and replace them with biometrics.
This is where I have a major issue. But before getting into that worry, let me spend some time inspecting more about these two key players: the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the FIDO Alliance.
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
This organization is fairly well-known, as it is the pioneering group that created the World Wide Web in 1989 by the brilliant Tim Berners-Lee. The Web has changed our lives in dramatic ways, mostly in very good ones. And we certainly owe a lot to this pioneer and the W3C organization itself.
But my worry lies in the future of the Web, namely with those responsible for drafting the standards and creating this new Web Authentication System.
More specifically, the editors and contributors are from a very narrow, yet extremely powerful, players – mostly from Google and Microsoft.
Here is a quick snapshot of these figures listed on their Web Authentication: An API for accessing Public Key Credentials, Level 1, W3C Recommendation, 4 March 2019 page:
We pretty much know by now that Google has engaged in some pretty nefarious activities over the years – not limited to political bias and favoritism, significant data breaches, secretive projects, search result manipulation, and outright censorship.
As for Microfost, they have had their fair share of misdoings too. Apart from engaging in monopolistic and bullying business practices, they have also been known to include covert surveillance code into their operating systems, application software, and communication technologies which they have (like Google) readily shared with governments, intelligence agencies, and countless other third parties. Furthermore, like with their co-founder Bill Gates, they are well-known globalists who are certainly in favor of creating a highly centralized network of control (e.g., have you ever tried to opt out of Windows 10 automatic updates?).
I could go on and on about Google and Microsoft, but I think most of you know in which camp their true values, morals, , practices, and allegiances lie – mostly with G20/UN/Globalist type agencies, governments, big corporations, and supranational organizations.
Regardless of the individual credentials of the people on that list above, you need to consider the power players and behind them; think of a globalist and recent Bilderberg attendee Eric Schmidt (former Google CEO & Alphabet head) who still retains a tremendous amount of power and influence over the unit.
The FIDO Alliance
As mentioned in the ZDNet article above, the FIDO Alliance (FIDO stands for Fast IDentity Online) “donated” the FIDO 2.0 specifications to the W3C.
What the heck do they mean by “donated”?
Having worked in tech myself (going back to the 1980s) I’ve never heard of such a thing.
Here, I might surmise that the W3C could have been coerced into letting this powerful alliance (see members below) set the stage for Web 2.0.
So, let’s have a closer look at this FIDO Alliance group. Here are 3 key pages from their website:
- W3C and FIDO Alliance Finalize Web Standard for Secure, Passwordless Logins (March 4, 2019)
- Board of Directors
- FIDO Members
A few excerpts from the first [emphasis added]:
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the FIDO Alliance today announced the Web Authentication (WebAuthn) specification is now an official web standard. This advancement is a major step forward in making the web more secure – and usable – for users around the world.
W3C’s WebAuthn Recommendation, a core component of the FIDO Alliance’s FIDO2 set of specifications[i], is a browser/platform standard for simpler and stronger authentication. It is already supported in Windows 10, Android, and Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Apple Safari (preview) web browsers.
WebAuthn allows users to log into their internet accounts using their preferred device.
Web services and apps can – and should – turn on this functionality to give their users the option to log in more easily via biometrics, mobile devices and/or FIDO security keys, and with much higher security over passwords alone.
“Now is the time for web services and businesses to adopt WebAuthn to move beyond vulnerable passwords and help web users improve the security of their online experiences,” said Jeff Jaffe, W3C CEO.
Lots more red flags here folks.
While this – to be able to log in to one’s internet accounts without annoying passwords – may all sound quite convenient, the privacy implications are quite grave.
Yes, security is said to be there in terms of the real account holder logging into somewhere or posting on social media or some other platform or app and that is nice and dandy (although rest assured people always find a way to cheat the system – an inevitable reality that is to be expected); but I think the larger issue that is not being discussed at all here is PRIVACY.
Not everyone wants the world to know who they are, what they do, what they think, whom they interact with, what they use, what they buy, and so forth.
Unfortunately, it strongly appears that the future of the Web and its mainstream tools (e.g., web browsers), applications (e.g., messaging, Google Play/Store apps), and services (e.g., email, online banking, and social networking) will seemingly force everyone to be visibly IDENTIFYIABLE, TRACKABLE, and potentially SUBJECT TO SCRUTINITY, PUNISHMENT, and BEING REPORTED TO UNFORGIVING AUTHORITIES.
Now let’s have a look at a few who sit on the Board of Directors:
The top / most powerful member of the Board of Directors is Mr. Brett McDowell who “serves on the Boston Federal Reserve Banks’ Mobile Payments Industry Workgroup”.
This is ONE HUGE RED FLAG for me, as anyone from the US Federal Reserve System takes their orders from the larger Federal Reserve central bank of the United States which takes its orders from the Bank for International Settlements and International Banking Cabal; they are the ones that have financially enslaved humanity for at least the last century.
These nefarious banksters are the ones who are currently plotting and scheming the next monetary system which will replace the current dying fiat monetary system.
The new system will likely be a digital currency on a blockchain as often mentioned by none other than Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF (International Monetary Fund, or International Mafia Federation as some call them).
Thus, having one’s personal/private data and [most likely their] biometric information on such a blockchain is extremely worrisome to say the least.
Once you get sucked into that matrix of control, there is literally no way out!
You will have to be a good little world citizen and play by the rules set by this establishment, lest you be punished severely, thrown in prison, or memory-hole’d never to be seen again.
Number two on the Board list is Mr. Sam Srinivas:
Mr. Srinivas is a director of Information Security at Google.
Once again, I needn’t get into the gory details about the abuses that Google has committed over the years (actually, maybe I’ll just mention the latest one: Google Parses Your Gmail For Financial Transactions).
Suffice it to say that a top Google figure sitting on this board funnels a lot of toxic precedents into what is suppose to be a more “noble” Web 2.0.
As if the banking powers and tech media giants weren’t enough we have plenty of other power players in terms of FIDO Members. Here is a list of notable ones:
Amazon (for their track record on security & privacy I highly recommend you watch this video entitled WARNING Amazon com SPIES on you! by Mike Adams of www.naturalnews.com – a website that was completely deleted from Google a few years back, I must add).
Facebook
Google
Microsoft
Alibaba Group (note that Alibaba is tied at the hip with the Chinese Communist Gov’t and it is highly to be expected that they would share everything with them, most likely in concordance with their Social Credit Score system which will likely be replicated in other countries).
Bank of America
JP Morgan Chase (a bank that has heavily been involved in manipulating markets, especially precious metals)
Goldman Sachs (a bank that has a reputation for cheating its customers)
Wells Fargo (an extremely dishonest bank with a horrible track record of breaching and abusing customers’ data and privacy)
ING Bank
RBC (Royal Bank of Canada)
mastercard
Visa
PayPal
Intel
Qualcomm
Lenovo
Samsung
Huawei
LG
Symantec
Verizon
Notice the payment processing & credit card companies such as PayPal, mastercard, and Visa; these are the big players for payment of goods & services. PayPal has been known to unfairly remove and exclude certain individuals and groups from their payment system solely based on their political ideology. Also worthy of paying attention to are cell/smart phone manufacturers (like Samsung & LG), computer providers (like Lenovo), and chip makers (Intel & Qualcomm), as these players have a tremendous presence and amount of influence with the devices they manufacture which are used by billions of individuals around the globe. In addition, we have a significant telecom provider/carrier – Verizon (who has previously turned over customers’ telephone records to the NSA under the latter’s Prism mass surveillance program) from the USA among others that figure in the complete list. The criminal banks of Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs inevitably have their overreaching tentacles in the mix. Needless to say, Facebook isn’t exactly the poster child for a new Web standard of personal security; so one has to wonder in what (detrimental) ways they are influencing the endeavor.
Make no mistake; these are extremely important and influential players in their respective industries.
Of course, it could be said that they all have a legitimate stake or interest in this type of Web 2.0 authentication technology and justifiably so. I am not denying that.
All I am saying is that many of these companies have a proven track record of abuses, customer data breaches, and even overt and unaccounted/unpunished criminal behavior to the detriment of their own customers.
Therefore, we need to be more vigilant and questioning regarding their presence in this group.
Voice’s Privacy Policy
Now let’s get back to Block.one, the developer of the EOS blockchain and now Voice.com.
As millions (if not billions) have been fooled and duped regarding the fine print of Google, Facbook, & Twitter’s privacy policies in the past several years, we need to be extra vigilant not to fall into the same traps and pitfalls.
I know it’s tedious, time-consuming, cumbersome, and outright annoying to read through these policies (I think most would rather watch paint dry…) but it is imperative that we do so and not simply be too trusting that these entities will have our best interests at heart.
If we have a look at the Privacy Policy for Voice we can already see some extremely worrying points. Here are selected ones followed by accompanying comments on my part [emphasis added]:
Block.one and its affiliates (“Block.one“, “we”, “us” or “our”) are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. At the same time, we strongly believe that accountability and transparency are important and these principles underpin Voice.
By “accountability & “transparency” I surmise that they are implying that people who post or interact on their platform be locatable and identifiable (i.e., being able to identify a specific individual using biometrics or other means).
We collect limited amounts of your personal data when you visit the Website. This data is not made available publicly and is stored and processed by our trusted third-party partner, MailChimp… Your data, when stored by MailChimp, will be protected by them with state-of-the-art security and is accessible only by authorised employees and our trusted partners, and only when necessary.
Actually, Mailchimp does not appear to be a secure third-party to entrust user data, as can be attested by previous breaches (see related articles here and here. So, at first glance it doesn’t seem like they’ve done a decent job in choosing a partner trustworthy enough to manage their customers’ personal and private data.
For more information about how MailChimp processes your personal data, please see their privacy policy, available here: https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/.
If you look at MaiChimp’s own privacy policy, you will see that they themselves share data with other third parties (without stating who specifically that may be). So, once again there is a huge risk that your data will get propagated to doubtful participants – something the team at Voice was criticizing about competing social media platforms, yet misleadingly telling you that they will do otherwise.
Please note that once Voice goes live, separate privacy policies will apply and you will get the opportunity to review and accept those.
Wow. They are saying that once Voice is mainstream and no longer in beta a new (separate?) set of privacy policies will apply. Hence, this creates another opportunity for them to make dangerous changes that most people will likely not notice, read, or be honestly informed about. This is very sneaky and deceiving to say the least.
Who can see your information This information can only be accessed by our and MailChimp’s authorised employees.
So, employees from a third party (MailChimp) will have access to your personal data.
We use Google Analytics and HotJar to run data analytics on the Website.
Google Analytics is a third party service which transmits website traffic data to Google servers in the United States. Google Analytics does not identify individuals or associate you IP address with any other data held by Google. For further information you can access Google’s privacy policy here: www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/
Major red flag here. All data transmitted or re-routed to the United States will be permanently recorded with the NSA (an likely other intelligence agencies). Moreover, Google has been proven to willingly share such data with the NSA and others; so your personal information (IP address location, browser info, your browser history, i.e., the websites you visit) will be shared and can be used against you in the future.
HotJar is a third party service that helps us better understand our users’ experience. Hotjar uses cookies and other technologies to collect data on our users’ behaviour and their devices (in particular device’s IP address (captured and stored only in anonymized form), device screen size, device type (unique device identifiers), browser information, geographic location (country only), preferred language used to display our website). Hotjar stores this information in a pseudonymized user profile. Neither Hotjar nor we will ever use this information to identify individual users or to match it with further data on an individual user. For further information, you can access Hotjar’s privacy policy here: https://www.hotjar.com/legal/policies/privacy
I am not all that familiar with HotJar, but they seem to have access to even more of your private data, including your “device type (unique device identifiers) – for which I believe this means your cell phone or device’s unique ID which can easily be used to identify and track you.
Disclosure and international transfer of your information We may disclose personal information about you, where reasonably necessary for the various purposes set out above: [many bullet points omitted] - to the extent required by law, in exceptional circumstances: to competent regulatory, prosecuting and other governmental agencies, or litigation counterparties, in any country or territory;
Hence, they can share your data with government or prosecutorial agencies in any country in the world. Wow.
All in all, Voice’s privacy policy, the way it is currently drafted, is far from providing users with real privacy, but rather seems to be in the same style as Facebook’s and its peers.
Block.one & EOS
A few issues here...
Firstly, I must say that I am not impressed with EOS itself. After receiving over US$1 billion dollars in funding to develop the EOS blockchain platform, I feel that the company Block.one has left much to be desired, even one year (now) after its official launch.
I, along with many others, were expecting a lot more. At the very least some easy means by which we could transact EOS tokens. For this, even a year later, I personally think they have failed miserably. I have some EOS tokens on a wallet called Exodus and they are pretty much stuck there, as I cannot easily move them. There are some independent wallets available, but they are very far from user friendly or easy to use. Moreover, there was a lot of hype but the value of the tokens themselves have really failed to take off and provide a decent increase in price.
Yes, the EOS blockchain itself does appear to be robust and highly performing (they are ranked #1 in terms of transaction processing on blocktivity.info). But really, it’s like a Ferrari engine hidden in a Pinto.
I think that they will soon release the EOSIO 2 version which is supposed to have improvements. But I still remain skeptical as to whether they will make the platform enticing enough not only for application developers, but also for the average user.
It still remains very unclear what incentive(s) and average user has in holding EOS tokens. You would think that with over a billion dollars spent on the project, that they could at least make it more comprehensible to the masses. But no, they haven’t.
Furthermore, at this stage it remains unclear how the VOICE token will relate to the EOS token. Will they be transferable/interchangeable? If they are “linked”, will the EOS token become traceable (as one’s Voice tokens seemingly will be) to its owner?
There are many questions and uncertainties about this whole project.
One that is seldom mentioned is the fact that only 10 EOS accounts seemingly own almost 50% of EOS tokens, at least according to a BTCMANAGER article.
As the article dates from last year, and technically, I am not sure whether this is still the case, it remains a worrying thing nonetheless. Who exactly would those 10 account holders be? We know that it is a similar situation regarding Bitcoin, as by some estimates, 97% of Bitcoins are owned by only 4% of wallets. These kinds of situations give potential for instances of great and grave abuse.
Next, if you have a look at Block.one’s Executive Team, you will notice a lot of names with former employment at the big banks and investment houses: JP Morgan, Citibank, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Jefferies, and CLSA. One needs to ask: why? Why would their executive team be filled with figure with lots of experience and ties to big banking and investment? One could only surmise that interests of the banking sector would be perhaps take preference or precedence over other stakeholders – especially the average Joe or Jane.
Lastly, just have a look at the news page about voice from Block.one (taken on June 7, 2019 from the address https://block.one/news/):
Notice the choice of image: the Washington monument (obelisk).
Perhaps it could be observed that since this coming out party for Voice took place in Washington D.C., that the designers of this website news page simply chose to use such an image. While that is possible, one must ask what this choice of image really has to do with a new social media platform.
For those who have read and done research on obelisks around the world and particularly those in Paris, London, Vatican City, and Washington D.C know that they are very strong symbols of power. London is known as the financial center of the world (City of London); the Vatican as the spiritual center; and Washington that of the military heart of the greater apparatus of control.
Moreover, the obelisks – particularly the one in Washington D.C. that was cornerstoned by none other than 33rd degree freemason George Washington – are very well known symbols of freemasonic power.
Here are a few relevant excerpts from Graham Hancock & Robert Bauval outstanding book entitled The Master Game [emphasis added]:
Washington DC can fairly be described as the world’s foremost ‘Masonic City.’ Its centre was laid out according to a plan drawn up by the French Freemason Pierre L’Enfant. -Freemason Today, Issue 16 [p. 495]
The analogy intended by the ‘Egyptian’ obelisk that stands in Washington therefore seems obvious. Towering more than seven times as high as those in Rome, Paris, London and New York, this powerful solar talisman is today the emblem of the capital city of the new world order. [p. 533]
Now, while I know that this point may sound quite nutty and conspiratorial in nature. But for those who have studied the way powerful Elites who control most important financial institutions as well as other institutions of control or influence in power centers around the world know that they tend to openly flaunt and arrogantly project their power so as to show their might. It is integral to their narcissistic psyches and personalities.
Their ultimate dream is indeed a New World Order. And to have effective levers of control to command such an ambitious project, they would certainly not fail to include the future direction of the internet - namely blockchain technology whereby everything can be recorded and tracked.
We need to be super vigilant and questioning folks.
Steemit ain’t perfect but…
Now, even though Block.one’s CTO (Chief Technology Officer) is none other that Steemit developer Dan Larimer we still need to remain skeptical regarding the EOS & Voice projects, as he is merely the one in charge of the nuts & bolts, or mechanics, of the blockchain engine itself.
Yes, perhaps it was initially conceived as a pioneering digital platform of freedom and liberation from the usual corrupt middlemen, yet when we look at how the human resource (and corporate) deck is stacked, we can see a whole other beast in the usual suspects.
Yes, of course Steemit has had its difficulties in the past several months such as bots taking over many aspects along with downvoting and abuses from shady whales. But nevertheless, it remains a pretty solid platform on which our posts can remain on the blockchain without worry of being deleted or censored by other parties as is the case on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube (but to name the main ones).
Conclusion
While this new Voice social media platform may appear enticing at prima facie, it can be one huge Trojan Horse.
Henceforth, let’s continue to monitor the development of VOICE and the EOS platform along with moves that will be dictated by the power players on Block.one’s Executive Team and their Partners (especially W3C & FIDO Alliance) to make sure that we are not being baited and ensnared into a matrix of control by the powers-that-shouldn’t-be.
If anyone dares to engage and try the beta version of Voice, by all means do share your thoughts and experiences with us by commenting below.
I would love to be wrong about most of what I’ve written above, but my intuition and gut feeling tells me that all ain’t right and we are being set up once again.
Peace all.
In Truth & Liberty,
I read a super long post but I did not get the point.
My suggestion is to come to the point and say what u want to say right away next time you write something.
What exactly is your problem?
Voice is a very well timed response to the privacy and censorship issues we face recently with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
In addition to Youbikey, I would appreciate being able to use the new Ledger Nano X with bluetooth to verify with Voice, both on desktop and mobile.
Dear @jmehta
Thx for your comment.
Im not sure what response would that be. Voice seem to go even few steps futher with collecting our personal data.
Would you mind sharing with me what's on your mind?
Cheers
Piotr
Hi @knircky, thanks for weighing in .
Actually at the beginning of my post I stated:
In this article, I will make a brief case as to why I think this promise of a new social media platform which will liberate, empower & enrich us (through their “Voice” token) and not censor us (as is the case w/ Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) is really a...
cleverly disguised façade and trap to get the masses sucked into a beast system of control on blockchain.
Notice the large font above - that is the GIST / TAKEWAY from my post.
Hope that makes it clearer.
Thanks again.
Summary: conspiracy theory.
hi @knircky
After reading this post (parts of it I read twice) my impression was that @libertyacademy was simply sharing his concerns related to Voice platform.
Cheers
Piotr
I have concerns about the identity component, my Info using/selling and behind the scenes profiting due to hidden centralization - all together for the moment means I won't be using it; however I have no ill feelings towards EOS and wish them the best with voice.
..While they are 'some what' a competitor to Steem a key selling point is they will 'get it right'; perhaps implying Steem and others got it wrong, they will be making decisions around the mistakes made from Steem and others.
Here lies the issue though, the true learning come from the doing, not just the watching.
..Also when it comes to ticking the blockchain best in breed ticks - Steem has them all! and they are in prod in a variety of different forms.
If EOS wants to do well in this space it will come from watching and copying and trying to improve. While there is allot in-house debate and some dodgy whales in Steem arena, all this fighting and getting it wrong = practical experience and learning through doing!
While EOS can copy and fix, but as it stands they currently have zero experience. This is what they are attempting to gain now.
If the Steem community will take a hard look - top down/ bottom up - and use a lens of win/win between developers, holders, users Steem will continue to progress and ultimately has a much better chance then EOS.
..but it's going to take the leaders here listening to the stakeholders and not favoring particular communities or people - instead push the system towards the light side, to bring balance back to the force (....I mean crypto world).
Steem leaders must profile the communities here (communities are complex), work out the needs and wants of each and then go about adjusting the product to delight each community. While this can be done manually, many companies are putting machine learning to good use in this space as well.
The future of Steem is a system that supports its various communities in a win/win way or a dead blockchain that once was..
Of course, people will simply move about doing a bit on different platforms until they decide which one they hate the least and just stay there for a bit.
I wish both Steem and EOS the best and hope they can co-exist. I obviously favor Steem as the one with the most boxes ticked and practical experience.
Cheers
What an amazing comment @lordnigel
Seriously I appreciate your effort and time.
Yours, Piotr
Dear @libertyacademy
Interesting choice of topic. Thanks for sharing links to all those publications.
I've noticed that many people seem to share their optimism towards this product. My only concern is that it may be just to over-complicated (even more than Steemit is).
Yours
Piotr
Complicated how? They have not explained how it works?
They've done a horrible job of promoting their EOS project and explaining it well to the masses. I just don't see much value in it for the general public.
You nailed it.
Dear @knircky
I fully agree with @libertyacademy and his statement in previous comment.
So far most people I've talked to about EOS and Voice seem to share similar concerns and impressions. This surely may be amazing product but I cannot see typical "facebook user" to really understand much.
Even process of creating account on Steemit is a nightmare. From what I've learned it's even more complex and difficult with Voice.
Perhaps I'm wrong, but this is so far my impression.
Yours
Piotr
I signed up for Voice
Not heard anything back from them yet, apart from the confirmation email.
It took weeks and three tries to open a Steemit account so i am not concerned about waiting for a voice account
This is my first time to come across voice and everything else discussed here.
I am one of them lol!
With all the spying discussed, it's worrisome what technology can do and makes one think how should we protect ourselves.
I for one find it a bit complicated. The great thing about Steemit is that it was / is easy for a clueless tech-phobe like me to quickly understand most of the workings on this platform. And what I couldn't comprehend quickly just took a bit of time and effort, before I could get a handle on the more complex workings of the site.
So, rule number one remains ... K.I.S.S. (or, Keep it Simple, Stupid!)
A few months back, I had looked at the new platform NARRATIVE. I haven't done any posting there, simply because it's NOT SIMPLE. :-(
Dear @majes.tytyty
I never tried Narrative. Is it really that difficult?
I just realized that I never actually thanked you for your reply. I really appreciate that you're so very responsive.
I also wanted to make some suggestion.
My impression is, that the hardest part of attracting attention on STEEMIT is the fact, that our audience have very little chance to actually find our publications. Lack of solid notification system is an obvious issue. And regardless how hard I would try - there is very little chance I would find out about your new interesting publications (my feed is just flooded with to many posts).
Please allow me to share some suggestion with you. If you would ever publish content related to blockchain, crypto, artificial intelligence, psychology etc.
then perhaps you could simply send me memo with link to that post.
This way not only I would have a chance to read your publication, but I will also
upvote it right away with 20k SP voting power
. If I would consider it interesting then I may also share it with wider audience.Please let me know what do you think.
Cheers, Piotr
Hello, Piotr, and thanks for your message.
As for Narrative, I'm of 2 opinions. First, they seemed to have some great ideas about how to build a strong and comprehensive platform. But secondly, it seems they failed at developing any features that can make the individual posts attractive.
Whereas Steemit's "EDITOR" functions are minimal, Narratives editor functions are almost non-existent. And since, as you know, I like lotsa color in my posts (sometimes far too much color!!!!!!), I really do not wanna deal with Narrative. Maybe if they improve such features.
Re Steemit's lack of a notification function, you've hit on a great point. That's the one drawback that has always bothered me a bit. I'd love to notify people when I make a post, and I'd love to get notifications from quite a few Steemers re there posts.
Now, the only way to get notified is thru one's individual Steemit feed, but since there's a constant stream of posts from all those FOLLOWED, it's way to much.
Your idea of sending wallet messages is another way, but I for one to not always check my wallet, so I'm sure I've missed messages from you and a few others.
Of course, I'll notify you if I ever write any posts re crypto or such, but now, I'm focusing on my music series. ANd enjoying it!!
Also, I'm enjoying the relaxing life in CM. It's not too hot, and the pool's always cool.
I hope all is well with you. I assume your beautiful wife Keisha (spelling?) is with you now, so you must be happy.
Cheers!
Steemit is not simple either unless you start with an app and ignore the rest.
That is what I mainly do. I post and read and comment and upvote.
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Yep, they forgot the KISS rule.
Thank you to the invite to read this article, @crypto-piotr, and for writing it, @libertyacademy. I appreciate the sourcing as well. I was not considering EOS as a serious threat of any kind because of what I had read of its clumsy rollout of Voice, and because I am satisfied with Steemit at present, but the view to deeper dangers than might otherwise be apparent is always appreciated.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us @deeanndmathews
Cheers, Piotr
Hi Piotr, thanks for your message, they always drive me to nice articles.
Today I had some free time to read the whole thing and comment a bit. Would like you to read it and share your opinion.
Keep up sharing good stuff and enjoy your Sunday.
Hugs
I recommend not getting involved in something which nsa has backdoor and will clearly spy on people
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Hi @khussan
I didn't really think about it that much until you wrote your comment. Would you mind sharing with me what is NSA and what sort of backdoor are you mentioning?
Yours
Piotr
NSA is National Security Agency of America but they spy on everyone.
Backdoors like activating camera and mic remotely to spy and monitor activity and hobbies and interests and such
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Hard to imagine that they don't already have their dirty claws in there already....
Yes they try to spy one everyone
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Thanks for sharing the article link. Their kyc policy, to be disclosed, is another issue. Worse than traditional social media tbh
Yep. Indeed.
Very true @karamyog
Thanks for engaging @crypto.piotr. Now following you!
I think the whole EOS project was way too complicated from start. I am stuck with some EOS token that I can't do much with because the billion dollar project can't even ensure that there is a decent wallet out there.
Dear @libertyacademy
Thank for your kind reply. I wasn't aware that EOS didn't provide it's customers with decent wallet .... that's quite surprising.
Yours
Piotr
I think they did not develop it themselves because they wanted wallets that held EOS tokens to be developed independently (which I think is the correct thing to do). However, I am not 100% sure of the accuracy of my previous statement since I have not thoroughly researched this aspect. I just know that I can't move my EOS tokens out of my Exodus wallets because of the current limitations of possible/flexible wallets to easily move those tokens around.
Dear @libertyacademy
I just realized that I never actually thanked you for your reply. I really appreciate that you're so very responsive.
I also wanted to make some suggestion.
My impression is, that the hardest part of attracting attention on STEEMIT is the fact, that our audience have very little chance to actually find our publications. Lack of solid notification system is an obvious issue. And regardless how hard I would try - there is very little chance I would find out about your new interesting publications (my feed is just flooded with to many posts).
Please allow me to share some suggestion with you. If you would ever publish content related to blockchain, crypto, artificial intelligence, psychology etc.
then perhaps you could simply send me memo with link to that post.
This way not only I would have a chance to read your publication, but I will also
upvote it right away with 20k SP voting power
. If I would consider it interesting then I may also share it with wider audience.Please let me know what do you think.
Cheers, Piotr
Wow that would be fanstastic. Which way would be best to notify you when my article/post will be out and ready? To reply to any of our threads?
Dear @libertyacademy
I just re-read your post as I found it really very valuable and it does consist of to many informations (to be able to diggest it right away).
Would you consider using Brave browser as tool that should (in theory) protect me from sharing all those datas about users?
ps.
Yesterday I also shared your post with most of my followers. Im sure you've noticed quite many "new faces" :) I'm really glad to see that you've been responding to everyone's comment.
Cheers
Piotr
Dear @crupto.piotr,
I was just going to send you a more appropriate and thankful note. Honestly, I was not expecting at all such a big response to my post, as I threw it together very quickly in about 2-3 hours and usually don't get more than a few comments. As I've been reading through the comments, I noticed that many people mentioned that you had made them aware of my post. And for this, I am extremely thankful to you, as many eyeballs were directed towards it.
So once again, very much appreciated. And I look forward to following your work over the next while too.
By the way, I've been currently working on/writing a very extensive post/exposé about a much bigger and more relevant issue regarding the future of crypto and blockchain as it pertains to being overtaken and controlled by the powers-that-be. You wouldn't believe the extent to which they have their tentacles ALL OVER that space. So far, that post is much more well written (both in terms of contents and in terms of English & style) than this post. I am going to try to finish it before the end of June. Pls keep an eye out for it if you can; you'll know it when you see it. That will be a thousand times more important than this post.
Cheers,
Dear @libertyacademy
I'm glad I could help. Also I really found this topic very interesting and worth promoting :)
I''m also pleased to notice that you pretty much replied to everyone. Shocking :)
Please send me memo with link to this publication whenever it's ready.
Yours
Piotr
and as a prove, I am one of those new faces invited by Piotr ;)
Indeed you are @cubapl :)
EOS is on Coinbase right?
Sorry for the mix-up, as I initially replied in the wrong thread.
As for EOS on Coinbase - yes it is in the US (except for New York - not sure why exactly). At least this is according to their website; here is the specific page 'Supported Digital Currencies':
https://support.coinbase.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2630943-supported-digital-currencies
They also have a page 'Coinbase supported countries':
https://www.coinbase.com/global
Thanks for the link..
@dan is C_A. been obvious for some time now...
Glad you liked it @drakernoise.
What is C_A?
Clowns in America.
All of the Tech Giants you mention were started by DARPA, well funded by tax payer funds and likely still run by Clown assets. I suspect the foreign ones as well.
How could EOS raise so much from a simple ICO, openly hold events in the US but claim they aren't targeting American investors, and still keep going with no consequences from the SEC ?
The same way Microsoft, Facebook, and Google escape prosecution for obvious violations of US Law. They are the Law.
What we are seeing here is the building of the New, Centralized World Wide Web. They call it a Web for a reason. Those of us old enough to remember Eternal September know full well what it is, it was not a secrete back then.
The social credit system has to be disguised in the West to be accepted, what better way than to ride on the coat tails of the crypto hysteria created by the one assets designed to break free of this Web.
Then again, we don''t know of created it but we do know who created sha256, so we're likely all screwed either way :)
God Speed.
Got it. Thanks!
Now following you my friend!
Love to see how responsive you are @majes
hey - there is golos.io it is voice.io at which many steemians have joined it and it is meaning also the voice but in Russian style
i like what i have read so i have resteemed this post with great passion to see this project on top
If you resteemed this post because you want voice to be on top you did not read the article.
The article is not written to promote the platform but a warning + it tells what you sell of yourself if you join.
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AS YOU HAVE WRITTEN HERE ABOVE "That is what I mainly do. I post and read and comment and upvote." THEN WE DO THE SAME AS YOU DID BUT WE DO NOT FORCE OTHERS TO ACCEPT OR IGNORE ANYTHIMG.
THE ARTICLE IS CLEAR FOR MOST OF ENGLISH NATIVE SPEAKERS AND IN THE MAIN TOPICS HERE , THE POST IS SHOWING OTHERS "TO JOIN" NOT TO RUN AWAY....
NEVERTHELESS - I LIKW WHAT I READ SO I RESTEEMIT EVEN IF SOMEONE THERE DID NOT LIKE WHAT I DO..... ARE NOT WE EVEN IN THIS B.S. WORLD !!!
Bullshit factoids and conspiracy theory
as usual... Marketing and countermarketing wars
Can you name one "bullshit factoid" that doesn't jive @nnnarvaez? Something to give your premise some foothold of credibility? That would be helpful.
EDIT: I'm not saying that marketing/counter-marketing isn't a legit "motive" for propagandizing mind you.
The whole post is a factoid fractal... (A factoid made of smaller factoids)
Sorry I had missed this relevant piece of information on my first read...
Now i know it is a HARPA like, Illuminaty project and i am really scared.
There's no absolute certainty. It could be a coincidence since the event was held in DC. I was just stating that Elite types like to openly flaunt/mark their territory along with their devlish deeds.
The speculation on masonic manipulation is not proveable or disprovable @nnnarvaez... and really not relevant to the overall premise credibility (or lack) anyhow... so maybe there is something else that's more likely to cause the whole OP argument to come apart that you could point out? Thanks in advance.
From what I understand, a Voice account is about transparency not "free speech" or optimized for maximum self expression. In my opinion this is not a problem as long as the marketing of what Voice is supposed to be is done in an honest fashion. It's not meant for private or personal communication.
This does not mean Voice does not have important uses. Sometimes when we want to give people a Voice we do it so people CAN be held accountable for what they say. My take on this is in order to thrive on something like Voice you cannot be "self serving" but you have to serve the community.
When you speak on Voice you don't speak merely how you felt about which team won the superbowl or go on a drunk tirade. The bar is for that kind of communication. Voice is for when you want to communicate something as a representative of a community of others who will back what you say.
If you have enough people standing behind you then you can speak confidently because you know you're not just speaking for yourself but for your community. When I posted on Steem on the topic of privacy it was because I did not see a large portion of the crypto community demographic being represented. It was because I saw also some sort of dishonest marketing where people were making what I interpreted as false claims. One such false claim is that you must choose to give up privacy for security or that you somehow cannot have privacy with transparent elements.
In my posts I highlighted the Enigma Protocol which offers a different approach from what Voice and EOS are doing. I highlighted this different approach so that the community could have enough information to choose for themselves which path is best by having knowledge of all the current technical options available.
In my current opinion from my understanding of our technical options I do believe we can have both transparency in the sense that there can be reputation, identity, and accountability, all whilst maintaining privacy. This is possible because you can now have encrypted smart contracts. In my opinion the breakthrough the Enigma team has made is as big as the breakthrough Satoshi Nakamoto made with the Nakamoto consensus. It provides new options, for enabling trust, for producing transparency, and for maximizing accountability. A human being does not have to ever see certain data as certain data can be computed while in an encrypted state. Certain data absolutely must be kept encrypted and certain data has to be impossible to link back to a physical person. Certain data also needs to be shared in such a way that algorithms can use the data without the original owner losing control of the data. For examples, if we want the true opinions of the community (real community sentiment) we will never be able to get it from something like Voice. We will require some way to do opinion polls, surveys, where the participants are anonymous from each other but where the smart contract can verify that each participant is a unique specific human being.
In my opinion, a platform like Voice is more suited for when you know what the community sentiment is and you can speak in a unified voice. Example is any one of us could choose a person from Steem to speak for a certain demographic on Steem over the Voice platform. In that way only one of us would have to take the risk of speaking it. Another alternative is we can all make accounts on Voice and use Voice for official or formal or more precise modes of communication.
Some people want a sanitized safe place of communication on the Internet. Not everyone wants raw interaction with other people. In a polite society, I recommend taking the polite approach to communication. When reputations in the real world are on the line with every sentence then I would expect that etiquette plays a much bigger role and that careful choice of words will be rewarded on such a platform. Of course these are just my predictions and truthfully a platform like Voice is a complete experiment because even Facebook as far as I know does not require biometric authentication and then store the communications on a forever storage blockchain. Note, I do not know for sure where certain information like biometrics will be stored and it might not be on a blockchain but it's still linked to a blockchain.
References
What an amazing comment @dana-edwards
Seriously I appreciate your effort and time.
Yours, Piotr
Thank you for your detailed comment.
I suppose you may be right in that this may be the direction they want to proceed it. A big part of the problem, however, is how blindly the masses jump into such platforms without really considering the privacy implications.
I do hope if they (Block.one/Voice) take this route that they themselves will be more transparent about it and not simply radically change their privacy policy once a big share of users are in their matrix, as Facepuke, and Twatter have already done on multiple occasions.
Time will tell. And to me personally, there is nothing to indicate it will be any different just by looking at who they have partnered with and who are controlling them.
At this year's Bilderberger conference (Switzerland), the topic was, among other things, "social media as a weapon", which could mean that the elite is making plans to use the internet and social media to channel the masses. At least it is suspicious that exactly this topic at the Bilderberg meeting was chosen by the elite!
greetings
@sternblitz
Yes @sternblitz I had also noticed and wrote about this very item from their agenda on my related post from a short while back.
Hi @sternblitz
Appreciate your comment buddy. Thx for sharing your opinion with us.
Yours, Piotr
Wow... I would say that you have spent hours just to research and express your thoughts here. Kudos to that, nice work... for that I would be wary in joining Voice.
I'll just be on the sidelines and observe first, with your post I have to check some details and with the many information you mentioned here it would certainly take a while for me.
Dear @arnel.
Thanks for the kind words. I also just checked out your Steemit feed and really like what is there. Thus, I am now following you.
I'm listening to your 'Future of Crypto' now! I used to listen to Ivan too and like his contents.
Hi @arnel
I didn't hear from you in a while. Great to see that you're still around buddy :)
Thx for your comment. Yours, Piotr
Great post, I agree with most of it. I honestly feel that anyone who seriously intends to upset the power balance on Earth so that it is more fair and just would know very well the significance of many of these issues and would not be involved with them. I do also know that when a world is as dominated as this one is, sometimes there can be motivation to try to 'change things from the inside'. Unfortunately, I don't feel Dan is demonstrating enough intent or awareness here to show that he is going to produce results that are anywhere near his originally stated intentions.
There are a wide variety of ways that individuals can become compromised, either with or without outside influence. Keep those eyes open!
Good point. As you hint, most politicians are compromised, most banksters and corporatists become compromised, and many freedom-fighters and libertarians get compromised. It seems that the old dictum is true, that "Power Corrupts."
Well, I did make a long post on that topic a while ago.. hehe. Power is just 'the ability to act' and we absolutely need it to live. The problem is not power, but the denial and heartlessness that leads to the unconsciousness and short-sightedness that is all around.
Thanks my friend.
By the way, I've been currently working on/writing a very extensive post/exposé about a much bigger and more relevant issue regarding the future of crypto and blockchain as it pertains to being overtaken and controlled by the powers-that-be.
You wouldn't believe the extent to which they have their tentacles ALL OVER that space. So far, that post is much more well written (both in terms of contents and in terms of English & style) than this post. I am going to try to finish it before the end of June. Pls keep an eye out for it if you can; you'll know it when you see it. That will be a thousand times more important than this post.
I tried to join but as a mobile blogger, I cannot.
Of course, this is a Trojan horse, of course they tell A to catch people and once started the rules will be changed and no one cares.
Why? Because they join in the hope to make an income.
By now we all know most people over here are not writers and they do hardly read or comment.
We also know the biggest part in this world does not care about the fact if they have privacy or not.
They are willing to give their DNA to join the club but would never do so to solve a murder case.
The only way to be safe is not to exist in the real world. Not having a bank account is the first step.
P.s. Is there a way to stop the automatic windows 10 updates? Already 3 times we had to repair my daughters computer because the blue screen it gave after it. No fun and extra costs and time lost. She's an animator.
Good points my friend.
As for Windows 10 Fix, I go the best solution(s) for you!
I got the same annoying problem and fixed it in 2 phases (as the parasitic Microsoft Update found its way back into my system).
First Fix / Phase:
Go to https://www.cleverfiles.com/howto/disable-update-windows-10.html
And follow / do Option 1
Problem, though, is Microsoft somehow manages to revert this setting after some days.
So, you also need to do:
Second Fix / Phase:
Go to https://www.drivereasy.com/knowledge/how-to-stop-windows-10-update/
Basically follow the instructions from 'Completely uninstall Windows 10 Update Assistant'.
Completely uninstall Windows 10 Update Assistant
Windows logo key and R at the same time, type appwiz.cp
Find the Windows 10 Update Assistant in the listed programs, and right click on it, then select Uninstall.
Go to This PC > C:\Windows, delete the folders named UpdateAssistantV2 and UpdateAssistant.
And also do Way 1: Meter your network connection to stop Windows 10 update
since I've done this phase 2 a few weeks ago, I have yet to encounter this annoying problem.
Good Luck and Spread this gospel!
Thank you so much! I am gonna spread the great news!
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What an amazing comment @wakeupkitty
Seriously I appreciate your effort and time.
Yours, Piotr
A good post deserves a good answer. Thank you for your kind words. Happy Sunday ☘💕
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Well written and researched article my friend! I think we agreed on another post elsewhere, but Voice is nothing more than government-approved (billionaires and other powerful interests looking to eliminate anonymity) blockchain where KYC is the standard and it links to everything else. This is the devious side of why blockchain was invented but thankfully the free market steps in with options like our Steem and others where anonymity is preserved.
Hi @cmplxty
Appreciate your comment buddy. Thx for sharing your opinion with us.
Yours, Piotr
I'm keeping an open mind. If they want censorship proof and no-bots then I'd love to see what their tech solution is for that. There's quite a bit they can do at the front-end. But if the Voice system starts encouraging third party apps then I can well imagine a black-market opening up for keys. Get your grandma to go through KYC and then sell the account keys. Let's see - there's a lot of room for innovation in this space.
I do get the article's point that Voice's implementation seems to be a step backwards in terms of p2p dApp-ness. Maybe that's a necessary thing to drive adoption.
When every account has a reputation and is linked to a real world person it does remove the problem of bots (only humans allowed) and it produces self censorship because if you have more to lose than to gain by saying something inappropriate then why would you?
No. It doesn't. I reckon you could find a lot of people who don't care about the Voice account and would rather have $50 or whatever. That and hacking keys, identity theft and you probably can't attach an IRL person to a voice ID in any meaningful sense. Yeah, harder for bots but not impossible.
Hi @eturnerx
Appreciate your comment buddy. Thx for sharing your opinion with us.
Yours, Piotr